Eugene Vindman Rips Officials For Signal Scandal: ‘There’s A Sense Of Callousness, Of Indifference’

2 days ago

During a press briefing from House Democrats on Tuesday, Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) called for an investigation into the Signal group chat leaked regarding U.S. war plans in Yemen.

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Transcript

00:00Well thank you. We've heard some really passionate remarks today and I want to

00:04look at this from a perspective of a 25-year Army veteran, a JAG that's

00:09prosecuted cases, serious cases of violation of the Uniform Code of

00:17Military Justice and felony type cases and also investigated these types of

00:23breaches. And so operational security is a basic but critical function and it's

00:32something that's taught to the very youngest of service members. And what we

00:39saw in this breach, in this leak, is those basic ideas thrown out because there's a

00:48sense of callousness, of indifference, of lack of accountability in this

00:55administration that is deeply disturbing. So anybody that has a family member that

01:00is in uniform, anybody that has a family member or is themselves serving in

01:07national security is now very concerned because they saw that their senior

01:12leaders, 18 of the most senior people in the national security establishment,

01:19callously sharing information, information that I, as a member of the

01:24National Security Council staff, previously sat through a principals

01:28committee, literally the pinnacle of our national security establishment. I can

01:33only imagine that the data included things like the operational op plans for

01:41the attack. There's no chance in hell that this was not classified information.

01:48It's just not possible, certainly at the time that it was released. And so

01:53signal gate is real and we need to take appropriate measures to

01:59protect the American people and national security. And so the way you do that is

02:03you investigate. And it's incumbent on folks in the executive branch, in the

02:09White House, in every department and agency to understand the scope of this

02:14breach. It's a standard procedure. Investigate to figure out what is the

02:20extent of the spillage and then take measures to remediate that. Our job in

02:27Congress is to exercise an oversight role. We have to have a clear

02:30understanding of exactly what happened. Is this very unlikely the only PC that

02:38was held on the signal? No, I doubt it. Who exactly was on this? I mean there

02:46are references to the VP and I only say this tongue-in-cheek, VP Vladimir Putin.

02:51No, we need to understand very well exactly who did what to understand the

02:58full scope of the breach and take appropriate measures. The messages were

03:03undoubtedly classified and we need a full accounting. And the last thing I'll

03:07say is the president has previously released information that was in the

03:12classified realm to clear the air. He has the same opportunity to do that now.

03:17He can release exactly what was on the signal string so we, everybody, the

03:23American people, in an act of full transparency, can understand what's

03:27going on and we can move on. In any other administration, this would have been

03:32considered like the type of controversy that was enough to bring down cabinet

03:40secretaries. In this one, it just seems like a random Monday. So we need to get

03:45rid of this air of lack of accountability and take appropriate steps. Thank you.

03:52And I have the honor to introduce our panel.

Eugene Vindman Rips Officials For Signal Scandal: ‘There’s A Sense Of Callousness, Of Indifference’

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